By Bill Dolan, Times of Northwest Indiana
bill.dolan@nwi.com
CROWN POINT | The Lake County Council is expanding its hiring freeze into the new year and is now including restrictions on filling part-time as well as full-time job vacancies.
Lake County Council President Larry Blanchard, R-Crown Point, said Tuesday they aren't calling it a job freeze anymore since the council usually lets elected officials and other department heads off the hook if they can justify the need to hire a replacement for a departed staff member.
The council approved a new ordinance Tuesday requiring that elected officials still come before the council to ask permission for any new hires.
The council has trimmed more than 200 jobs from county government's payroll in the wake of declining revenues caused by state-mandated property tax cuts and a depressed economy.
It also has had hiring restrictions in place since July 2008. Council members have permitted 93 people to be hired during the freeze, but Blanchard said the restrictions still saved $1 million by delaying hiring or eliminating some jobs.
Council members were confronted Tuesday by a new problem. The emphasis on cutting full-time jobs has resulted in elected officials spending more on part-time help to keep government service levels constant.
County commissioners announced this month they overspent their part-time allowance by more than $125,000 and the county clerk's office needed an extra $14,600 to make its part-time budget balance by the end of the year. Council members moved money from other funds to make up those deficits but now want more control over part-time expenditures.
The council will only allow part-time hiring if the department head can justify bringing in a replacement and assure council members the department is remaining within its spending limits.
The new hiring restrictions don't apply to court-mandated jobs, union positions protected by a labor agreement, an elected official's chief deputy or attorneys employed by the county prosecutor's office as deputy prosecutors.